Business Spotlight: How One Company Is Helping Decontaminate Calgary Post Covid-19

There will be a stage of this crisis that begins to get the majority of our community back to work. In the meantime, we want to help out in the community, stay hopeful and make ourselves aware of new developments every single day. Now is a time where we can take a step back and realise that Calgarians are in this together, and we have been showing it through kind messages to each other, through texts, videos, social media and the actions we can take.

Through the eyes of a business owner, what can you do to ensure the health and safety of your staff? Or unsure how to take action and get supplies into the hands of those who need it most? Read how one Calgary company, ProStar Cleaning and Restoration, is stepping up to the plate to support our community.

The local Calgary business was started in 2002 by founder Jodi Scarlett, who had just graduated from the University of Calgary in the MBA program and also received a Bachelors of Commerce. She is an active member of the Women Presidents Organization and Alberta Women Entrepreneurs. She holds 3 Master Restorer designations with The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Also being a certified instructor for the Alberta Insurance Council, continues to offer seminars relating to water damage restoration and mold remediation. A truly inspiring entrepreneur that has a true passion for supporting the community. She has been an avid supporter of the knowledge and research done into countering the contamination of Covid-19 and has worked to ensure her staff are fully trained on the potential harm and the skills required to lower the risk of any contamination.

From humble beginnings, the story begins by painting the picture of a small cleaning company, rickety chairs, no filing system, a team of several maids and no computer in sight. It may not be the prettiest picture, however when Jodi bought the business back in the early 2000’s, providing the highest quality cleaning service has continued to be the heart of ProStar Cleaning and Restoration today.

Now in 2020, the business has built up their skills and capabilities to offer a wide range of cleaning and restoration services. Traditionally their focus is on services for their customers so they can recover from unexpected events. Whether that be fire, wind, water or sewage damage, household or commercial cleaning, construction cleanup and mold or biohazard abatement, they can handle it all. This speaks lengths into how they have listened to their customers needs over the past 18 years.

Their fight against Covid-19

How we can integrate back into the workplace and social gatherings with lowering the risk of a second uprise in contamination through peers? Now that we have found ourselves in a state of emergency with a global virus pandemic in our community, Jodi and her team at ProStar Cleaning and Restoration have found themselves going back to their roots, cleaning.

Jodi and select members of her team spent a lot of time researching the novel Covid-19 virus. From their efforts they have created FAQ’s that relate to concerns about how they are taking measures to address the challenges involved. Having their staff trained on cleaning various disasters that came before the wake of the virus, their team was skilled to address the conditions required to disinfect any areas at risk of already being contaminated. Jodi mentions:

“We gathered all the information and wrote safety practices, we trained the team within 24 hours…they were ready, it didn’t take us very long because we were uniquely poised for this kind of work”

Field staff were trained on bloodborne pathogens and in house “clean and apply” methods. They can service any single facility up to 100,000 square feet and includes the application of approved disinfectant chemicals by professionals on their field staff. Staff are taking the necessary precautions to ensure they can deliver a successful decontamination of social housing, homes and businesses across Calgary and surrounding areas. You can learn more about their FAQ’s on their Facebook page where they are avidly responding to any queries or comments.

The team at ProStar Cleaning and Restoration want to reiterate that with the conversations they are having regarding Covid-19 and their methodology, is that they will first screen the details of the risk involved. These efforts are more so focused on staying transparent to not sell a service to someone who simply does not need it. It is key to note whether there has been a high chance that someone or groups have been in contact with the area and whether there has been a history of testing positive for the virus.

How are the management lowering the risk for their employees in office and in field staff?

As mentioned previously, the staff have been trained on safety practices and the potential ways the virus can attach itself to surfaces. From their usual hazard assessment policy that traditionally would be applied to their customer requests, they put those same skills to work on their own facility. To address specifically the health and welfare of all staff under Jodi’s leadership, she has implemented a few different ways to ensure the highest level of precaution is taken.

“every job site we go to is hazardous. So we do a hazard assessment and determine how to mitigate those hazards. So this COVID-19 is a new environmental factor for us”

The majority of her office staff have integrated a work from home environment during this time, assisting with customers’ questions and supporting the field staff. Within their 15,000 square foot facility, only three in-house staff continue to work at their location to ensure there is replenishment of gear ready for field staff. It is a priority for their facility employees to have zoned areas allowing for ample social distancing practices, key to ensuring that there is little to no crossover day to day from staff not working from home.

They built a decontamination stations at all entries and exits at their facility to have staff coming in and out to decontaminate themselves through handwashing stations, regular temperature readings to ensure they stay on top of any risk that may come into effect as conditions change and segmented their field staff into smaller groups to address specific job site conditions; to which also include decontamination stations.

How has the communication been with your employees since the state of emergency was declared?

Jodi mentioned that she had arrived home from a personal trip just on the cusp of the declaration from the government, thus leading her to self isolate for 14 days and continues to work from home trusting the recommendations made by Alberta Health Services. The transition for the team has been greatly received moving to communicating using online conference calls and messaging apps like WhatsApp. Jodi has continued to create leadership videos and is a true believer in the use of humour to ensure there is a healthy work balance between her and her employees.

How is ProStar Cleaning and Restoration helping the community during this time?

Jodi and her team have taken upon themselves spending time trying to educate the public and calm those concerns. It is important to remember that there is continuous research going into the ‘shelf life’ of the virus and ProStar Cleaning and Restoration will continue to inform the community through social media channels to ensure the most relevant information is reaching those concerned. ProStar’s team implemented a sustainable PPE(Personal Protective Equipment) initiative early on during this pandemic and are cognisant to not interrupt the supply chain channels for health care. They have adapted with the equipment they own to ensure they can reuse everything they possibly can, thus allowing essential PPE to be received by front line workers who need it most.

One initiative ProStar is happy to support is ConquerCovid19. It has gained a lot of attention for supporting our healthcare workers and women’s shelters at a time where there is a shortage of medical and personal supplies they deeply need replenishment of. This gained a major push from Olympian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and support from well known actor Ryan Reynolds. It has received support from companies across Canada such as Canadian Tire and Toys ‘R’ Us, ProStar is one of the Calgary companies that have offered to lend a hand.

ProStar’s involvement will be boots on the ground and the use of their facility in Calgary where they will be hosting one of the first PPE supply drives at their location, details can be seen below. We commend ProStar for their support offered to the team at ConquerCovid19. Please visit their Facebook page to learn more about their work with ConquerCovid19 and how you can offer your own support for their PPE supply drive Saturday April 18th.

The team are happy to respond to questions through their contact information available on their website and through all their social media platforms. Working directly with the social housing sector on some large cleaning projects, providing maintenance services to ensure those who need these services have a safe and clean environment, with the additional support of assisted self isolation rooms. Working to support vulnerable individuals, they are proactively implementing preventative cleanings across their service areas. They also have been working with housing and apartment rentals such as Airbnb’s to have turnover cleaning to ensure the owners can safely offer a clean environment to stay. Jodi and her team are eager to witness the transition of our community back into their workplace and some normality for the future, and of course, are there for support.

If you have any questions and would like to learn more about ProStar Cleaning and Restoration and their work in the community, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

For more stories, visit Todayville Calgary

Related Topics:business spotlight coronavirus

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The ESG Shell Game Behind The U.S. Plastics Pact

Published on May 12, 2025

Todayville

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jack McPherrin and H. Sterling Burnett

In recent years, corporate coalitions have increasingly taken center stage in environmental policymaking, often through public-private partnerships aligned with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals that promise systemic change.

One of the most prominent examples is the U.S. Plastics Pact (USPP). At first glance, the USPP may appear to some as a promising solution for reducing plastic pollution. But in practice, it has encouraged companies to make changes that are more cosmetic than environmental—and in some cases, actively counterproductive—while increasing their control over the market.

The USPP, launched in 2020, consists of more than 850 companies, non-profits, research institutions, government agencies, and other entities working together to create a new “circular economy for plastics.” Dozens of major retailers and consumer goods companies—including Coca-Cola, Danone, Kraft Heinz, Target, and Unilever—have signed on as “Activators,” pledging to eliminate certain plastics, shift to recyclable packaging, and increase the use of recycled plastics.

Yet, rather than curbing plastic production or reducing waste, the USPP has led many companies to simply transition from polystyrene to polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This shift has been encouraged by claims that PET is more widely recyclable, easier to sort, and better aligned with existing U.S. recycling infrastructure.

However, polystyrene is more moldable, is recyclable, and has insulation properties that PET doesn’t. In addition, PET is approximately 30 percent heavier than polystyrene, meaning more material is required for the same functional use. Moreover, PET requires more energy and is more expensive to produce than polystyrene. And PET’s denser packaging increases transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and raises costs even more—though these higher costs don’t bother USPP participants, as they simply pass them on to consumers.

Only 5 to 6 percent of all plastics in the United States are recycled. Even for PET products, the overall recycling rate remains low. Just one-third of PET bottles are recycled, while the recycling rate for many other PET products such as thermoforms is less than 10 percent. Most PET products end up in landfills.

This ineffective, costly, and counterproductive shift was not accidental. It reflects the broader incentives baked into ESG scoring systems that reward superficial compliance over substantive outcomes.

ESG frameworks reward companies financially and reputationally for achieving certain narrow targets such as reductions in single-use plastics or increases in the use of packaging that is technically recyclable. However, these metrics often fail to accurately assess total plastic use in a product’s lifecycle, associated emissions, and real-world recovery. A package that uses more plastic and energy—and therefore generates more emissions—may still earn high sustainability marks, so long as the plastic is recyclable in theory. This is a textbook example of greenwashing.

A closer look at the USPP reveals that some of the world’s top plastic users and producers—Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé—are among the Pact’s strongest backers. These corporations, which produce billions of PET containers per year, benefit substantially from signing onto agreements such as the USPP, adopting ESG standards, and pledging support for various green goals—even if they do not deliver any green results. In fact, a 2022 report found that a large majority of retail signatories to the USPP actually increased their consumption of virgin plastic from 2020 to 2021.

Many of these same companies fund the non-profit that organized the USPP: the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This creates a feedback loop in which large companies shape sustainability standards to their own advantage, defining which materials are “acceptable,” reaping the rewards of ESG compliance, and marginalizing smaller firms that lack the resources to adapt.

For example, by promoting PET as the preferred packaging material, the USPP conveniently reinforces the existing supply chains of these multinational bottlers, while sidelining other materials such as polystyrene that may be more cost-efficient and suitable for specific applications. Smaller manufacturers, who can’t easily switch packaging or absorb the added costs, are effectively squeezed out of the marketplace.

The USPP has not built a circular economy. Rather, it has constructed a closed circle of corporate sponsors that gain reputational boosts and higher ESG scores on the backs of consumers, despite increasing energy and plastics use.

The USPP unites ESG financiers, government agencies, nonprofits, and the largest corporate polluters in a mutually beneficial arrangement. This system rewards compliance, deflects scrutiny, manipulates public trust, eliminates free-market competition, stifles innovation, and increases costs to consumers—all while creating more waste.

Policymakers and consumers alike must recognize that ESG-aligned coalitions such as the U.S. Plastics Pact are nothing more than corporate lobbying groups disguised as sustainability initiatives. They do not improve environmental quality, but they do profit immensely from the illusion of doing so.

Jack McPherrin ([email protected]) is a Research Fellow for the Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center and H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, both at The Heartland Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization based in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Alberta

Alberta’s industrial carbon tax freeze is a good first step

Published on May 12, 2025

Todayville

By Gage Haubrich

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is applauding Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s decision to freeze the province’s industrial carbon tax.

“Smith is right to freeze the cost of Alberta’s hidden industrial carbon tax that increases the cost of everything,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “This move is a no-brainer to make Alberta more competitive, save taxpayers money and protect jobs.”

Smith announced the Alberta government will be freezing the rate of its industrial carbon tax at $95 per tonne.

The federal government set the rate of the consumer carbon tax to zero on April 1. However, it still imposes a requirement for an industrial carbon tax.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would “improve and tighten” the industrial carbon tax.

The industrial carbon tax currently costs businesses $95 per tonne of emissions. It is set to increase to $170 per tonne by 2030. Carney has said he would extend the current industrial carbon tax framework until 2035, meaning the costs could reach $245 a tonne. That’s more than double the current tax.

The Saskatchewan government recently scrapped its industrial carbon tax completely.

Seventy per cent of Canadians said businesses pass most or some industrial carbon tax costs on to consumers, according to a recent Leger poll.

“Smith needs to stand up for Albertans and cancel the industrial carbon tax altogether,” Haubrich said. “Smith deserves credit for freezing Alberta’s industrial carbon tax and she needs to finish the job by scrapping the industrial carbon tax completely.”